When you mix violence  with enormous loss of life, the resulting stories of the supernatural are inevitable. World War 2, of course, fits this recipe. From the beaches of Normandy, to the skies above Pearl Harbor, I am going to touch on a few of the more famous ghosts of World War2.

Many people have reported seeing ghostly soldiers all over Europe. Since much of the heavy fighting of the war took place on that continent, this comes as no surprise. With the beaches of Normandy attracting millions of visitors each year, there have been numerous reports of paranormal sightings. Detailed reports of soldiers still hiding in the bunkers, troops hiding behind trees, and sounds of guns being fired at night make Normandy one of the most haunted locations of the war. Many Europeans have spotted the ghostly images of soldiers hiding in their attics as well as walking around towns that saw heavy fighting during the conflict. There are even rumors of a cannibalistic English Private that still haunt a small village in the Swiss Alps. It is said that before he was shot, he had eaten parts of sevend children.

Not to be outdone by their human counterparts, there are also reports of ghostly war machines. One of the most well known is the American P-40 Warhawk that appeared on December 8, 1943, exactly a year and one day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The story is that the plane appeared on radar, out of nowhere. The pilots that were sent to intercept the aircraft reported that the plane was shot full of holes, the landing gear was missing, and they witnessed a bloody pilot in the cockpit. The P-40 suddenly began losing altitude and crashed. When investigators showed up at the crash site, they found the wreckage of the plane, but there was no pilot. Another mystery is the fate of the crew of the Navy L-8 blimp.  Sent on a submarine scouting mission, it returned two hours later and crashed into a house in Daly City California, near San Francisco. The recovery team investigating the crash found that everything was in place the way it should be and no emergency equipment had been deployed. That’s probably because the entire crew had disappeared, never to be heard from again.

The horrendous events of World War 2 have inspired many stories of heroism and survival. It has also spawned a few ghost stories. Whether it be planes operated by spirits, to ghost ships, to apparitions of soldiers still at war, the images of World War 2 are still with us.

Press Trust of India
March 14, 2012

London:  A sensational entry in a newly discovered diary of a soldier has added weight to the claims that Adolf Hitler had fathered a lovechild with a 16-year-old French woman while serving as a corporal during World War I.

For decades, the tatty pocket diary of former Royal Engineer Leonard Wilkes had gathered dust in a box on top of a wardrobe among a war hero’s possessions. His sons, Alan and Gordon, discovered it after death of their mom 10 years ago.

Mr. Leonard was one of the first soldiers to land (more…)

By Lisa Irish, The Daily Courier
March 8, 2012

When Julie Gianettino, a student at Prescott Mile High Middle School, asked Lucy Hanson how they cooked after the Nazis took over her hometown of Hilversum in the Netherlands during World War II, Hanson told her she and her grandfather cut firewood from the forest.

“We had no gas, no electricity, water for an hour in the morning and little food,” said Hanson, who was 10 years old when her country was occupied. “Thank goodness we had a garden. Everybody was growing their own vegetables in their front and backyards. We made lots of soups, but we were all very skinny.” (more…)

By Chris Turner, WDRB.com
March 5, 2012

SEYMOUR, Ind. — Searchers in Seymour, Indiana look underground for some of the secrets of World War II — Nazi secrets, to be precise.

The Allies shipped Nazi planes to Freeman Field so pilots and engineers could fly them, take them apart, and put them back together again.

What they learned was important, because American planes weren’t as advanced.

What happened to those planes after the war is still a mystery.

(more…)

AP
February 28, 2012

BURLINGTON, Wash. — Lynn D. “Buck” Compton, a veteran whose World War II exploits were depicted in the HBO miniseries “Band of Brothers,” has died, his family said.

Compton died Saturday in Burlington, Wash., after having a heart attack last month, the family told the Los Angeles Times in a story Tuesday.

In January, nearly 200 guests, including actors from the miniseries, attended his 90th birthday party, the Skagit Valley Herald reported.

“To us he wasn’t really a war hero, he was just a hero, period (more…)